Page 123 of He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

I flash her a smile as I stop in front of her. ‘You two talking about me?’

‘Yeah,’ Mercy says. ‘Welcome to Dax network. Where it’s all Dax all the time over here.’ She rolls her eyes.

I shake my head with a laugh.

‘Hollyn doesn’t want to join me for the bouquet toss because she’s obsessed with you, even though she’s nottechnicallyunavailable.’

I laugh. Mercy and I have talked endlessly about what to say, but I should have known she’d improvise in an insult wherever she could.

‘What are the bouquet toss rules again?’ I ask, as if this isn’t my business. I know all the rules.

‘To qualify, a certain finger must be ringless,’ Mercy says, lifting Hollyn’s hand. ‘Hols’ finger is lonely as they come.’

I laugh under my breath. ‘Maybe we should fix that?’

Hollyn’s head snaps to me. ‘How would we fix that?’ she asks, now looking at me with her brow furrowed like she’s not following.

‘I dunno…’ I hand Mercy the wine I was bringing to Hollyn. ‘I was thinking with this.’ I reach into my jacket, pulling the ring out and dropping down to one knee.

‘Dax, what are you—’

At first, she’s shocked, her eyes moving to the ring then back to me.

‘Oh my god, is that a—’ She glances at Mercy, then back at me. ‘Shut up. We haven’t even talked about this. Are youserious?’

I nod. I’ve been thinking about what to say during this moment for a couple of months. I even talked it over with River and Jake. I took exactly none of their ideas either. I also remember nothing I scripted, so I’m going rogue.

‘One year ago, you thought you were on your way to meet your future husband. It turned out you were; it just took a broken heart and plane ride to get to me. You’re the only woman I ever want to do life with, Hols, and I’m kind of hoping I could ask you an important question?’

I take her left hand in mine, lifting it to my lips momentarily, ready to slide a ring – anactualengagement ring – onto her finger and officially take her out of the bouquet toss.

She nods, a hand now on her chest.

‘I’ll bring you every flower in the world if you blow off this bouquet toss and marry me instead?’

* * *

Hollyn

Seconds Later…

Oh my god. Tears are already starting to fall as it sinks in that Dax is knelt in front of me, asking me to marry him. I stare at the ring he’s offering me, his eyes wide, his face nervous.Thisis what this moment is supposed to feel like. Not a part of me is worried. My ass isn’t sweating. My head, heart, and loins are all on the same page. And I somehow feel my answer in my bones?

‘You want to marry me?’

‘More than anything, Hols.’

I nod my head, hardly able to speak as his words sink in.

‘That’s ayes?’

‘Yes!’

‘Yes?’ he asks as if he’s still not sure.

‘Yes, Dax, I want to marry you.’

The smile on his face is one of relief and exhilaration as he slides the ring onto my finger. He stands, his hands on my hips as he kisses me, our families now cheering from the sidelines. I wrap my arms around his neck, looking at the ring over his shoulder.

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